Ideals
by Uninformed Conformist
Summary: "Your hopes have become my burden. I will find my own liberation..."


Blake ran. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She turned the corner into an alleyway and stopped, then her legs gave out from beneath her and she sat there, fighting back tears.

Another protest today had gone awry. As a young member of the White Fang, Blake united with her fellow Faunus brethren early in the afternoon to take a stand for their equality. Everyone gathered in the town square confident they wouldn't dare falter at the mercy of scornful words from passerbyes and other human folk who have long treated her race like a horde of mangey animals.

Today, the Fang protesters were met with opposition. Opposition was something Blake and everyone ese were most certainly accustomed to, and they were expecting it, but some things can only be tolerated for so long.

Hateful remarks were only the start of it. Soon, the more bigoted humans which were drawn closer to observe the peaceful protesting threw more than just a few slurs. Violence erupted. The orderly protest quickly erupted into chaos; members on both sides were provoked into an all-out brawl. Blake, the poor little cat Faunus girl was on the unfortunate receiving end of one of the first blows. After being struck right above the eye by a rock, things only proceeded to get worse from there.

So she ran. Blake always found violence to be a deplorable alternative solution to achieve resolution. She believed that words could be exchanged for weapons, and that harmony was something that was only a little ways out of reach. Or, at least, the fairytales she'd been reading since she was very small would always like to say so. It was that mindset that brought her into the White Fang just a few weeks prior.

This pain, inside and out, was just something she would have to endure in order to make a change. She would, eventually, be able to reach out to those with hate festering in their hearts and make them understand. She only needed to try harder. She had to fight back her tears.

As Blake sat in the alleyway, she heard the fighting only continuing to escalate. She closed her eyes, and felt her head, assessing her wound. She looked down at her hand.

Blood. Someone had the deliberate intent to harm her, which made Blake choke up a little more.

"I'm alone," she spoke to herself. "So I guess... that a few tears are worth it."

Just then, she was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. Blake's cat ears twitched at the noise, and as a shadow now loomed over her, she instinctively cowered. She sat there, quivering, holding her hands up to protect her head, but nothing came. The shadow still remained, though. Curious now, the black-haired girl hesitantly lowered her arms, and looked up at the person standing over her.

She saw a boy. A boy in shorts and a black hooded sweatshirt. He didn't look more than a couple of years older than her, if any. With wild hair and his hands resting comfortably in his pockets, he looked somewhat fierce. His red eyes, though, showed concern for the young girl he was staring down at. Blake then noticed two small black horns protruding from atop the boy's head. A bull Faunus.

He spoke first. "Hey... are you okay?" The boy blinked, then knelt down, closer to Blake. Blake still was intimidated by him and shrunk a bit as he did so.

"You're a... friend, right?" Blake's voice shook as she tried to hide the tears welled up in her golden eyes.

"Those guys back there, did they hurt you?" The boy evading the question made Blake feel a little uneasy at first, but his genuine tone and words of concern relieved some tension in her. Blake met the boy's eyes again. The boy gave a smile, but then noticed the blood that dried on Blake's hand from her own head. His voice and expression lowered. "You're bleeding... and they did it, didn't they?"

He never mentioned who "they" was supposed to be, but in the context of the situation, he was obviously referring to the humans who attacked Blake and her kin of the White Fang. Her thoughts drifted to them once more as the noises of violence had lessened considerably in just the matter of a few minutes. She hoped everyone made it out okay.

She returned her attention to the boy. She had only been a part of the White Fang for a short time yet, but even still, she didn't recognize him. Accepting his concern and kindness for her, she felt comfortable asking the boy his name.

"My name? It's Adam. Adam Taurus." He spoke. Adam Taurus. A fitting name. Blake recalled an old fairytale with a character who shared his given name. Other things were at hand, though. Blake spoke up.

"Are you with the White Fang?" Adam gave a look of empuzzlement.

And so, after their meeting, Adam opted to join the White Fang, per Blake's own suggestion. Blake smiled at the thought of having recruited someone to their cause, and more so at the thought of having a new friend.

Adam and Blake accompanied their other Faunus comrades into protest after protest, regardless of whatever hateful glares, words, or acts they were dealt. As things went on, between the two young friends, only Blake ever expressed legitimate passion in the use of words to turn the hateful hearts of humans.

One day, after a protest went by without any major problems, the two were resting comfortably after a lengthy day of work. Blake was sitting, reading a novel. She dutifully scanned each and every page, enjoying herself with the thoughts of a job well done, in her eyes. Adam, on the other hand, felt differently. He stood around, and occasionally paced. His brow furrowed, the look in his eyes: troubled.

"Adam," Blake spoke, dividing attention between the words coming out of her mouth and the words on the page in front of her. "Is something the matter?"

The bull Faunus stopped. "Blake. Is what we're doing really working?"

Blake blinked, and her brow lowered. She looked up from her book. "What do you mean?"

"These protests, have they really been doing anything to stop anyone from doing anything? Or making people think any differently? Everyone still treats us like garbage." Adam clenched his fists. Blake gave her friend a somber look. "All of those stupid humans, they haven't done a thing to change the way they are! In that case, things aren't ever going to change if we keep doing things the same way. If they don't wanna change," Adam paused, then looked at Blake, a fire in his eyes her amber eyes had ever seen before. "Then we'll have to."

"Adam... you can't expect to sway an entire people's thoughts in just a few short years. It'll take time, so we have to be patient, and keep on working at it. Then we'll get what we want." Blake's optimistic ideals seemed to be at odds with Adam's pragmatism. Adam turned away afterward and thought to himself. Blake kept her attention on him for a little longer more before returning to her book.

"We don't have all the time in the world, Blake." Adam broke the silence to fell between the two, then walked off. His cold words made Blake shiver just a bit. She knew for herself that what they were doing was not in vain, but in a way, she had to admit he was right. Time is moving on, and there's only so much time that they have in order to make a difference.

Evidently, the times began to change. From within the White Fang, more and more members expressed ideals similar to that of Adam's, and protests became increasingly more hostile. Years went on by, and each day the violence only intensified. Eventually, the White Fang leader stepped down, and a new one filled his place. The former leader's ideas of a peaceful exchange of words were replaced with the mentality of domination, words becoming weapons, and peace becoming all-out conflict. More Faunus sharing the ideals of force made the group's numbers increase dramatically. Things were changing, indeed.

And Blake could only gaze in awe at it all. Gradual though it may have been, the White Fang now was wholly different than the one that rescued her long ago. Those times have now passed.

In their adolescent years, Blake and Adam, along with seemingly all of the White Fang, began combat training. They were trained with weapons to master the arts of combat, espionage, and infiltration. They mastered tactics of guerilla warfare, and adopted the mentality of only being able to fight to survive.

Blake and Adam were older now, and they now were a part of an organization of vigilantes who would now refuse to stand idly in the face of oppression from worthless human rule. United under a new banner of hatred, the Faunus would sleep no longer, and now the beast was unleashed to descend upon the world, and take back what was stolen from it.

Blake's previous idealism of a world united in peace was eventually lost and filled in with those of a collective hatred against the crimes comitted on them. To do unto others what others have done unto you. She felt like she had betrayed herself, but continued to fight, because what she was doing would result in peace eventually, right?

Blake didn't know. Who really did? What would drastic measures accomplish in the passing of time? What was she even fighting for? She wanted to get out. But then where would she go? The White Fang was her life, and she previously had no intentions to simply leave her entire life behind. It was now or never, though. She had to pick peace over conflict, but as she thought about it, she only found that the line that divided them was far more blurry than she used to think it was.

All Blake knew was that she was running out of time. She had to make her decision as soon as possible, otherwise she would be forced to continue like this, a tool used for war until the death of everything was achieved.

Today was her initiation day. She was partnered with Adam to infiltrate and destroy a train loaded with a shipment of Dust belonging to the Schnee Dust Company. She had made her decision...


End file.
